Love and Marriage: Technology and the Net Generation

Love and Marriage: Technology and the Net Generation

Technology and the Net Generation are inseparable—you can’t have one without the other.  The Net Generation grew up (at least in part) in an interconnected, online world.  Internet access, email, and websites were ingrained into their experience at a young age, and over time, these technologies expanded into blogs, wikis, and various forms of social media.  For better or worse—and probably both—they have become integral threads in our collective communicative fabric.

So how does this reality affect teachers and their students?  What, then, are the implications for second language learning?  And what ramifications does this hold for teaching and learning? 

Before these questions can be appropriately addressed, I think that the first issue that needs to be considered is our (teachers, students, and all other users of computerized technology) technological proficiency.  Technological proficiency isn’t a “given.”  As Warschauer (2001) notes, “Even for the current generation of students, the so-called ‘digital natives,’ simply growing up surrounded by technology does not ensure that they will be effective communicators in online realms, just as growing up in a print world did not automatically make one a good reader and writer” (p. 56).  Teachers that wish to effectively incorporate technology and digital communication in their classroom must take the time to train their students in how to best utilize these technologies.  Only then can the prospects for a more connected, creative, and collaborative language learning prosper take shape.  

Technology takes time, patience, and negotiation—just like love and marriage.